1990: Starting from Baojia Street

The sudden release of a Chinese-language movie at the end of December is not something worth noting to most North American movie fans.

In some movie theaters, there aren't even posters for The Sixth Sense.

Of course, although Zhou Yan is not well-known in North America, not a single person knows him. After the release of "The Flying Piano Boy", a small number of music lovers still noticed his name.

Jessica is one of them.

After watching "The Flying Piano Boy", Jessica not only bought the soundtrack of the movie, but also bought Zhou Yan's two albums, "Mysterious Country" and "The Piano Boy".

So when she saw Y-chou's name in the cinema, Jessica's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Is there another movie with Y soundtrack?"

This was Jessica's first reaction.

When Y's name appeared in the movie information, she took it for granted that Zhou Yan was the soundtrack for the movie.

This is also true, the soundtrack director of "The Sixth Sense" is indeed Y.

But Jessica later discovered that things were not that simple. In addition to the soundtrack, the director and screenwriter were actually Y. This was a movie written, directed and starred by Y.

Only then did Jessica remember that Y was also a director, and the original version of "The Flying Piano Boy" was directed by Y. If she hadn't seen Y's name on the director column, she would have even forgotten about it.

After reading the movie information, Jessica bought two movie tickets without hesitation, the other one was for Hardison.

Her relationship with Hardison has gotten much better recently, and they often go out to watch movies together.

And now the two of them have a common hobby, that is, they like Y. Today, they agreed that she would invite Hardison to watch a movie.

Originally, they planned to watch the new movie "Dumb and Dumber" that had just been released, but now that "The Sixth Sense" was released, she changed her mind.

Hardison naturally had no objection to this. He just wanted to watch a movie with Jessica. It didn't matter what he watched. Besides, he was also a fan of Y.

Although Hasson just wanted to get close to Jessica at first, as he learned more about it, he really liked Y's music, especially the song "Awakening" from "The Piano Boy", which he particularly liked.

After entering the theater, the two discovered that the attendance rate for this movie was really low, even lower than when "The Flying Piano Boy" was released, and there were a lot of empty seats in the theater.

Although "The Flying Piano Boy" is unknown from the director to the actors, after all, it has European and American faces, and it is highly accepted by North American audiences.

Chinese-language movies are different. Audiences here in North America are only interested in Chinese martial arts movies, and other movies are either a bit curious.

"Farewell My Concubine" has a box office of more than 5 million US dollars. On the one hand, it is the blessing of awards, and on the other hand, it is also because the movie tells the story of homosexuality and is highly topical.

In addition, movies like "The Wedding Banquet" are also in this category.

In recent years, the social trend can be seen from the award-winning films at film festivals. Gay and female themes are very popular.

In fact, even Jessica doesn't have high hopes for "The Sixth Sense". She mainly wants to listen to the music in it.

But the movie had only played for more than two minutes, and Jessica discovered that her previous understanding of Y was not enough.

Y is definitely not a musician who occasionally makes movies. The rhythm of the movie is very good. Although Jessica does not understand the shooting techniques in the movie, the shots in the first two minutes of the movie made her feel very comfortable.

Although there is no story happening, every shot entices the audience to continue watching.

Who is this woman? Why is she in the cellar?
What is the purpose of the tense atmosphere created by the soundtrack and light?
For the audience, just the right amount of foreshadowing is very wonderful, but if it is overly foreshadowed, it will consume the audience's patience.

"The Sixth Sense" did not make this mistake. The foreshadowing did not last long before the first conflict of the story appeared.

A naked man appeared in the home of the hero and heroine and scolded him.

Those foreshadowing shots at the beginning of the movie are not only to create a tense atmosphere, but also to explain a lot of things.

From the seemingly messy but orderly shots in the front, Jessica and the others learned that the male protagonist is a psychiatrist and is very famous. He just won an award recently.

So after the man appeared, Jessica and the others quickly understood that this man should be a previous patient of the male protagonist.

Obviously, the male protagonist's previous treatment of this patient failed, which is why the current scene occurred.

Later, the male protagonist was shot and fell in a pool of blood. Jessica and Hardison looked confused.

This male protagonist died when he first came up?

In other words, this is not the male protagonist at all?

Or is this actually a female-led drama?

Just when they were confused, one year later, the male protagonist appeared in the picture again.

Jessica couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "The hero is still lucky."

Hardison also nodded, "You are indeed lucky. The shot hit the abdomen. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to survive."

The subsequent story develops normally. The male protagonist seems to want to make up for his regrets, so he pays special attention to a case similar to the patient who shot him.

The other person is a very good-looking little boy.

However, the little boy didn't seem to welcome him and was very resistant when he saw him.

Jessica can probably understand that this boy has a mental illness and must be very withdrawn. He is probably very reluctant to contact strangers.

And many people with mental illness are very resistant to doctors.

But as the story developed, Jessica suddenly discovered that the development of the story was a little beyond her expectation. She originally thought that the so-called ghosts and gods in the movie were just the delusions of the little boy, but there were many details that showed that the boy could really see To the undead.

Is this a supernatural movie?

If this was a supernatural horror movie, Jessica thought it was unqualified. Although the movie did reveal a bit of horror, it was obviously not enough. At least Jessica didn't find it too scary.

This is more like a warm redemption film. Because of guilt, the male protagonist chooses the young male protagonist as a treatment object, and gradually uses his sincerity to untie the little male protagonist's heart knot.

The closer she watched to the end, the more Jessica could feel the warmth between the big and small male protagonists.

As the heart of the young male protagonist is opened, the movie is not only free of horror, but the light of the camera becomes brighter.

Especially when she saw the conversation between the young hero and her mother about the young hero's grandmother, Jessica almost couldn't help crying.

The misunderstanding between the mother and the grandmother for many years was solved because of the young male protagonist's ability. The moment when the mother cried and burst into tears, it was hard not to be moved.

When the movie got here, Jessica felt that it was almost over.

Everything that needs to be explained should have been explained. The little male protagonist's heart has been opened, and the male protagonist's knot in his heart is no longer there.

But she guessed wrong. The movie did not end, and the scene turned to the male protagonist and the female protagonist.

When the ring in the heroine's hand fell to the ground, Jessica felt her head buzzing and her whole body froze.

At this time, the most exciting soundtrack in the entire film also appeared. The soundtrack here also has the greatest emotional ups and downs among the soundtracks in the film, directly pushing the emotions to the highest point.

Jessica came to watch this movie for its soundtrack, but when she saw the twist in the ending, she had no intention of studying the music at all, because all her thoughts were on the storyline.

"The male protagonist is actually an undead?!"

No wonder the young male protagonist was so afraid of him at first.

No wonder the heroine feels cold every time the hero appears next to her.

No wonder the heroine never said a word to the hero after that.

There are too many "no wonders". Jessica didn't think much about many details when she was watching them before, but now that she sees the reversal, these details suddenly come to mind, making the reversal here logical.

Jessica suddenly heard someone in the audience say a word starting with f. It seemed that at this time, only this word could express the audience's surprise.

Hardison, who was sitting next to Jessica, actually wanted to say something dirty to express his surprise, but considering that Jessica was next to him, he still refrained from saying it.

There were not many viewers in the theater, but there were a lot of surprises, and everyone had the same experience watching the movie.

The twist at the end is so unexpected and exciting. Jessica has seen many movies with reversal endings, but there are very few that handle it as well as "The Sixth Sense".

Reversal itself is not a very difficult thing, but making the reversal reasonable is particularly difficult.

In the shock of the audience, the movie began to close.

The other audience members walked out while discussing the plot of the movie, but Jessica did not move because she wanted to finish listening to the curtain call music.

The song at the curtain call was very nice, and it gave a feeling of relief. After the intense baptism just now, the audience's souls also received some solace.

She didn't move, and Hardison naturally didn't move either.

When they were the only two people left in the theater, the screen turned and a figure playing the piano appeared from behind.

The man played a piece of music that Jessica had never heard before, and it did not appear in the movie. The camera slowly turned, and the face of the man playing the piano appeared in the camera.

"It's Y."

Jessica had seen Zhou Yan's photo and recognized it at a glance. Zhou Yan should be one of the few Asian faces she could recognize.

Jessica was quite happy to see Zhou Yan playing the piano. She didn't expect that there were Easter eggs in the movie. Fortunately, they didn't leave, otherwise they wouldn't be able to see the Easter eggs.

At this time, the camera was still rotating and captured a mirror next to it.

Jessica's eyes widened when she saw the mirror, because there was only a piano in the mirror and Zhou Yan did not appear.

At this point, the Easter eggs came to an abrupt end and the screen went dark.

Jessica couldn't help but roll her eyes. She didn't expect to be frightened by Y after watching the movie.

……

When coming out of the cinema, Jessica was still discussing the plot of the movie with Hardison.

There are a lot of details in this movie that they won't notice after just one viewing.

After some communication, they also discovered that they had overlooked many things while watching the movie.

"How about we watch it again." Jessica suggested.

Hardison immediately agreed, "I have no problem at all. Do you want to watch it today?"

Jessica smiled and shook her head, "I can't do it today, because there is only one show today. When I bought the ticket, I asked the conductor. If you want to see it, you have to wait until tomorrow, which is still the same time period."

"Oh." Hardison was a little disappointed. He wanted to stay with Jessica for a while longer. "Such a good movie only has one show scheduled."

"Although I also think this movie is very good, its schedule will definitely not be high. You can only watch it for one show, and the attendance is only so small."

"Thompson will definitely like this movie, and I will recommend him to watch it later."

"How about asking him to come with us tomorrow." Jessica suggested.

Hardison waved his hands repeatedly, "He seems to have a date tomorrow, so let him see it later."

Just kidding, he wasn't willing to let that guy Thompson ruin his one-on-one meeting with Jessica.

……

The premiere performance of "The Sixth Sense" in North America was very unsatisfactory, with only 270,000 US dollars in the first weekend and an average daily box office of only 90,000 US dollars.

Even though this movie has very few releases, this box office figure is pitiful.

Based on this first weekend result, the final box office of "The Sixth Sense" is probably between US$500,000 and US$1.2 million, which is 5.22 million US dollars behind "Farewell My Concubine" far away.

Domestic media have been paying close attention to the box office of "The Sixth Sense" in North America. They are all concerned about whether Zhou Yan can create another miracle. The performance of this film in Neon is really good.

As soon as the movie's first weekend box office came out, several domestic media got the news.

The media feeds on traffic. It is quick to praise someone and even faster to disdain someone. The box office of "The Sixth Sense" was poor, and the bad guys came immediately.

[Acclimatized, are cross-border directors praised too highly? 】

[A genius director encounters Waterloo, is Hollywood a dragon's pit and a tiger's den? 】

[RMB 500,000 in the first weekend, Neon box office became a fig leaf for Zhou Yan. 】

These news that trample people are all normal, and there are some that trample people more harshly.

[The film imitates the West and imitates the West, but in the end it is not recognized by the West. 】

A piece of news from "Film Perspective" directly criticized Zhou Yan's film for deliberately imitating the West, abusing techniques, and having no core content. However, it was eventually backlashed and not recognized by the West, which is very ridiculous.

Zhou Yan didn't pay attention to the news that criticized him, but when he went to Yanjing Studio, Han Sanping specifically showed this news to him.

"Do you think this argument sounds familiar?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Do you think this article was written by Xie Fei?"

"That shouldn't be the case, but I suspect it may have something to do with Xie Fei. Some of the reports even contain Xie Fei's exact words at the meeting. How can there be such a coincidence."

"So, it's very likely that it has something to do with the people who were there that day."

"It is indeed possible." Han Sanping sighed, "I thought that the box office of "The Sixth Sense" might not be very good in North America, but I didn't expect it to be so bad. You were so famous before, and some people must not like you. But whether it’s a movie or a record, you sell very well, and those who don’t like you can’t find a chance to step on you. Now, with this box office data, they finally have an opportunity.”

Zhou Yan actually also understood that when so many media came to suppress him, there must be someone behind it, and there might be more than one party.

In a circle, friends are always the minority, while opponents are the majority.

Zhou Yan has stolen the limelight from so many people in the past two years. These people's interests have been affected, and they have automatically stood against Zhou Yan.

But Zhou Yan didn't care too much. These monsters and monsters could only make him a little sick, but they couldn't defeat him at all.

No matter how hard they try, they can't change the fact that "The Sixth Sense" makes money. Even if "The Sixth Sense" doesn't make a dime at the box office in North America, it won't hurt him and Tomson half a cent.

And this incident also allowed him to see the faces of some media.

Some media outlets that had often approached him for interviews have also joined the "defeat" army this time.

At the same time, a friend in need is a friend indeed, and some media came out to support Zhou Yan this time.

For example, Yanjing TV station said a lot of good things to Zhou Yan in its report, and Sun Qin even called him specifically to tell him not to take the criticism to heart.

Needless to say, "Yangtze Evening News", although Zhou Yu has left "Yangtze Evening News", they still stood up to speak for Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan himself did not pay attention to the news, but Zhang Youan recorded it one by one for these media.

"What exactly does Xie Fei have with me?" Zhou Yan was a little curious.

Han Sanping muttered, "I probably know a little bit. It should have something to do with you not joining the Film Directors Association. Because of this, many people in the association have opinions about you. Xie Fei is the vice president, and it is normal for him to react. .”

"Is that why?"

Han Sanping said with a half-smile, "Isn't this enough? I didn't know before that they actively invited you to join the association, but you refused. Your move, to them, is tantamount to telling them that you are a dissident. If You, a director who refused to join the association, can still prosper, so what authority will their association have in the industry in the future? If other directors follow the same example and refuse to join the association, then this association will not survive. .”

Zhou Yan also knew that his refusal to join the Film Directors Association might cause objections to those in the association, but he didn't expect the other party's reaction to be so big.

Seeing Zhou Yan's silence, Han Sanping narrowed his eyes and smiled, "If you want to ease the relationship with them, I can help you mediate."

Zhou Yan waved his hand and said very simply, "No, I don't want to join the Laoshizi Association now."

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Han Sanping laughed and said, "I knew you would say that, and you probably wouldn't take these people to heart. Just pretend that I didn't say anything about the mediation, but if you want to retaliate against them, I will Won’t show up.”

Zhou Yan shrugged, "I don't want to put too much energy on this yet. The things I have on hand are enough to keep me busy." (End of Chapter)